Lenspiration | Samuel West | Activity https://www.lenspiration.com/members/samuelwest/activity/ Activity feed for Samuel West. Tue, 20 Oct 2026 07:06:01 -0400 https://buddypress.org/?v= en-US 30 hourly 2 7531740bab71f1ed989f72d34da5333b Samuel West replied to the topic Camera backpack in the forum Photography Q&A https://www.lenspiration.com/forums/topic/camera-backpack/#post-102021 Thu, 09 Jul 2026 22:24:31 -0400 Thank you for your recommendation Parris family. My old bag recently wore a hole in it and so I needed to get a new one. I ended up getting a Padwa Lifestyle backpack and am very pleased with it so far.
For anyone else looking for good camera bag for a reasonable price, I would also recommend the Padwa Lifestyle camera bags.

]]> f57949d8098c8f3e07bca65141b2e30b Samuel West replied to the topic FEATURED: Sweet as Honey in the forum Shoot to Serve Assignments https://www.lenspiration.com/forums/topic/details-honey/page/3/#post-101762 Fri, 26 Jun 2026 22:29:56 -0400 This assignment was a bit more of a challenge for me, and I also made the mistake of not checking how much honey I had to use, so I didn’t really have enough, but it was still fun overall!

-Henry

]]> b7fe7c71830e51b17af3470eb529d3fb Samuel West replied to the topic FEATURED: Glowing Scenery in the forum Shoot to Serve Assignments https://www.lenspiration.com/forums/topic/details-glowing-scenery/page/7/#post-101249 Sat, 23 May 2026 23:14:36 -0400 Thank you Rebekah and Joshua for the encouragement. The photography explore meetups I have been able to go to have helped me a lot in learning how and getting the chance to take some decent pictures. I enjoyed getting to talk about macro photography a lot too 😀 @parrisfamily. It would be great if we could do a field day together sometime! @parrisfa…Read more

]]> 26e6ee01063dd67dbb68c7f7dce14423 Samuel West replied to the topic FEATURED: Glowing Scenery in the forum Shoot to Serve Assignments https://www.lenspiration.com/forums/topic/details-glowing-scenery/page/6/#post-101141 Thu, 21 May 2026 19:30:31 -0400 Unfortunately, I did not have a chance to take some new photos for this assignment, so my submissions are photos I took earlier this year at Jekyll Island, Georgia. I’m guessing that you probably recognize these pictures Mr. James🙂.

]]> 32ef1932272505fd1569c344a6432fb4 Samuel West replied to the topic FEATURED: Storm Clouds Breaking in the forum Shoot to Serve Assignments https://www.lenspiration.com/forums/topic/details-breaking/page/3/#post-100546 Thu, 26 Mar 2026 21:27:49 -0400 Here are my pictures for this assignment. It didn’t line up for me that the sun was peaking out of the clouds when I was available to take pictures this month, so I submitted some past pictures I’ve taken.

]]> 974d0d8f7855763d23ac658d1b29826d Samuel West replied to the topic FEATURED: Storm Clouds Breaking in the forum Shoot to Serve Assignments https://www.lenspiration.com/forums/topic/details-breaking/page/3/#post-100543 Thu, 26 Mar 2026 20:46:05 -0400 These are the photos I took for this assignment. I took both of these pictures in our backyard in the afternoon. Unfortunately, we didn’t have many epic storm clouds, but I hope these will work for this Shoot to serve Assignment🙂.

-Henry

]]> 91ab50978ebcd21a038ebf1d346ccad6 Samuel West replied to the topic FEATURED: Looking Up in the forum Shoot to Serve Assignments https://www.lenspiration.com/forums/topic/looking-up/page/2/#post-100114 Sat, 21 Feb 2026 00:22:58 -0500 Here are the pictures I took for this assignment. I enjoyed taking these pictures and looking forward to the upcoming webinar.

-Henry

]]> 909dafce09f79f16664617d5ee5ca091 Samuel West replied to the topic FEATURED: Looking Up in the forum Shoot to Serve Assignments https://www.lenspiration.com/forums/topic/looking-up/page/2/#post-100054 Tue, 17 Feb 2026 01:29:38 -0500 That’s a good point Mr. James! I don’t remember if I was as close to the base of the tree as possible or not, but it does appear in the picture like I could’ve gotten closer and made a better composition. I still have a lot to learn about having an eye for creating not just a decent, but an epic composition.🙂

-Cody

]]> a7c4a9000585fb3dc84b5e6911b40944 Samuel West replied to the topic FEATURED: Looking Up in the forum Shoot to Serve Assignments https://www.lenspiration.com/forums/topic/looking-up/page/2/#post-100050 Tue, 17 Feb 2026 00:25:27 -0500 I found two older pictures I had previously taken that seemed to fit the topic of this assignment as well.

]]> 998aad9da1af292979ae658aadc1f0ed Samuel West replied to the topic FEATURED: Looking Up in the forum Shoot to Serve Assignments https://www.lenspiration.com/forums/topic/looking-up/page/2/#post-100045 Tue, 17 Feb 2026 00:23:54 -0500 Here are the rest of them.

]]> c14d9ddd11b869d59e10223c651c9e25 Samuel West replied to the topic FEATURED: Looking Up in the forum Shoot to Serve Assignments https://www.lenspiration.com/forums/topic/looking-up/page/2/#post-100039 Tue, 17 Feb 2026 00:22:11 -0500 Here are my photos for the assignment. My brothers and I went to Ft. Frederica first to shoot for this assignment, but it was later in the day than I was hoping, so the sun was lower in the sky than I wanted. Later, I shot some more pictures in the woods behind our house when I had a chance to do it earlier in the day.

]]> 9509d6b9b548fca6fe9c58189c9f1332 Samuel West replied to the topic FEATURED: Looking Up in the forum Shoot to Serve Assignments https://www.lenspiration.com/forums/topic/looking-up/page/2/#post-100005 Fri, 13 Feb 2026 14:19:27 -0500 Here is the last one.

-Cody

]]> 8539b3c80984b7daf729a300fc197d4e Samuel West replied to the topic FEATURED: Looking Up in the forum Shoot to Serve Assignments https://www.lenspiration.com/forums/topic/looking-up/page/2/#post-99999 Fri, 13 Feb 2026 14:17:23 -0500 Here are my submissions. I enjoyed going to one of my favorite places, Fort Frederica National Monument at St. Simon’s Island, Georgia, to take some new pictures for this assignment. Three of them are from different photo shoots.

-Cody

]]> 9fb2928f10f7b09a1b9129b000b558c8 Samuel West replied to the topic FEATURED: Your 12 Best Photos in the forum Shoot to Serve Assignments https://www.lenspiration.com/forums/topic/details-best-photos/page/2/#post-97975 Thu, 25 Sep 2025 19:28:08 -0400 Thank you, @jamesstadon.
I’ve definitely found that to be true about some photo shoots being more productive than others! It’s actually quite ironic that that photo shoot was the one I used so many pictures from, being that I had originally gone to capture the sunrise over the beach and fog disappointed my original expectations. I wondered if I…Read more

]]> dc0f8d36bcbc68a92eb92810d05991dc Samuel West replied to the topic FEATURED: Your 12 Best Photos in the forum Shoot to Serve Assignments https://www.lenspiration.com/forums/topic/details-best-photos/#post-97902 Wed, 17 Sep 2025 21:15:50 -0400 Here are the last two, November and December.

]]> 34f4987e767ae3ea4291057d46204d6f Samuel West replied to the topic FEATURED: Your 12 Best Photos in the forum Shoot to Serve Assignments https://www.lenspiration.com/forums/topic/details-best-photos/#post-97896 Wed, 17 Sep 2025 21:14:10 -0400 Here is June through October.

]]> b661d157a7b27f6b24ceb75a3e3cef85 Samuel West replied to the topic FEATURED: Your 12 Best Photos in the forum Shoot to Serve Assignments https://www.lenspiration.com/forums/topic/details-best-photos/#post-97890 Wed, 17 Sep 2025 21:11:41 -0400 I didn’t take a lot of pictures this past year, so I didn’t have very many to choose from. In fact, six of the pictures were taken the same day. 🙂 But I still came up with something for each month. Here is January through May.

]]> a57cc07d0ec48c296b91f623c861f6bc Samuel West replied to the topic New Camera in the forum Photography Q&A https://www.lenspiration.com/forums/topic/new-camera-2/#post-97745 Sat, 06 Sep 2025 00:29:35 -0400 Good tips! Thank you @blessingscaptured Hannah. Yeah, I have taken the Foundations in Photography course and will definitely be using Mr. James’ 10 steps for buying anything and reviewing the other information he gave on buying a camera. It was really good!
-Cody

]]> afd749901a71d6ff81786fc2ed2359d3 Samuel West replied to the topic New Camera in the forum Photography Q&A https://www.lenspiration.com/forums/topic/new-camera-2/#post-97674 Thu, 04 Sep 2025 21:59:44 -0400 Thank you for the information @dfrazer! It was very helpful. As you can probably tell, I don’t know a ton about camera stuff, even though I like photography 🙂.
-Cody

]]> e6b1a57de1082144259249f9b1557ba7 Samuel West started the topic New Camera in the forum Photography Q&A https://www.lenspiration.com/forums/topic/new-camera-2/ Wed, 03 Sep 2025 22:34:43 -0400 I am considering buying a new camera (probably Nikon), and I really want to find an affordable option. So I’m interested in looking into buying refurbished. Does anyone know of a good, trustworthy place to find refurbished cameras?
-Cody

]]> 4fd693e78db24e25e27e34fbb19cb68d Samuel West replied to the topic Why should we celebrate today? in the forum Photography Q&A https://www.lenspiration.com/forums/topic/why-should-we-celebrate-today/#post-97648 Wed, 03 Sep 2025 22:27:34 -0400 Happy Birthday Lydia!
Hope its a great one. Lenspiration couldn’t exist without you!

]]> 92f7b0b5ddf49b791eb24ff9f879a910 Samuel West replied to the topic Hot Pixels in the forum Photography Q&A https://www.lenspiration.com/forums/topic/hot-pixels/#post-97647 Wed, 03 Sep 2025 22:24:32 -0400 Yes, very helpful. Thank you again Mr. James and @cheesestick for your advice!
-Cody

]]> 07be97ec6702649aaab2f2d4bf2ddb70 Samuel West replied to the topic Hot Pixels in the forum Photography Q&A https://www.lenspiration.com/forums/topic/hot-pixels/#post-97558 Thu, 28 Aug 2025 22:28:20 -0400 Thank you for your research Mr. James. I appreciate your taking time researching about it.

It does seem like the pixels are showing up in the same arrangement and the same area of the photo each time.

I have never seen any hot pixels in high lighting scenarios, and even in the prayer/Bible study pictures I took, I could tell that there were less…Read more

]]> 10edccb4eb5ceebe6dcbe583f71291c6 Samuel West replied to the topic Hot Pixels in the forum Photography Q&A https://www.lenspiration.com/forums/topic/hot-pixels/#post-97499 Wed, 27 Aug 2025 00:35:46 -0400 OK. Thanks!
-Cody

]]> a1155230fae3d476b8283af62382966f Samuel West replied to the topic Hot Pixels in the forum Photography Q&A https://www.lenspiration.com/forums/topic/hot-pixels/#post-97316 Fri, 22 Aug 2025 18:37:46 -0400 Thank you for the help @cheesestick. The camera I use is actually my parents camera, so it is pretty old and well-used. The camera as other disadvantages due to its age besides the hot pixels. It may just be time for me to get my own camera that is newer.

I did find in my camera’s shooting menu that it does have a long exposure noise reduction…Read more

]]> d5dfeb51dd46e9bf05ebe18f75361d9d Samuel West started the topic Hot Pixels in the forum Photography Q&A https://www.lenspiration.com/forums/topic/hot-pixels/ Thu, 21 Aug 2025 23:11:56 -0400 Hi everyone,
When I recently took pictures for the prayer and Bible time assignment, I noticed they had a large number of conspicuous red, green, and white hot pixels in them. I haven’t had any problems with that recently, but they all just popped up in these photos. I looked back at what the Foundations in Photography course said about them, and…Read more

]]> 9ba8a02aec5ad09869e326acc1976f1e Samuel West replied to the topic FEATURED: Prayer at Bible Time in the forum Shoot to Serve Assignments https://www.lenspiration.com/forums/topic/details-prayer-time/#post-97163 Tue, 19 Aug 2025 17:29:52 -0400 These are my photos for the assignment. I only had one opportunity to photograph with my younger brother, and it was raining outside. That made the lighting not the greatest, but I tried my best. It was enjoyable trying out lots of different setups on the desk.
-Cody

]]> db6476093f4d9f2cd3190ee0ff297810 Samuel West replied to the topic FEATURED: Scenic Spots in the forum Shoot to Serve Assignments https://www.lenspiration.com/forums/topic/details-scenic-spots/#post-96655 Sat, 26 Jul 2025 19:53:55 -0400 These are the pictures for my other location: Upper Whitewater Falls, NC. My family stopped here on our family vacation to NC in April 2024. It was an awesome spot. I would have liked to take pictures at some new locations for this assignment, but I ran out of time, so I just pulled these two locations out of my portfolio. I hope they inspire…Read more

]]> c484da7b6c1161bc0f8b25a0d67a7c4a Samuel West replied to the topic FEATURED: Scenic Spots in the forum Shoot to Serve Assignments https://www.lenspiration.com/forums/topic/details-scenic-spots/#post-96649 Sat, 26 Jul 2025 19:41:34 -0400 Here are the pictures for my first location: Midway Congregational Church, GA. I had a great time visiting this place last October.

-Cody

]]> 2f9bb47ee5d69237f602168185437b35 Samuel West replied to the topic FEATURED: Scenic Spots in the forum Shoot to Serve Assignments https://www.lenspiration.com/forums/topic/details-scenic-spots/#post-96593 Thu, 17 Jul 2025 22:18:32 -0400 Yes, that answers all my questions. Thank you very much!

-Cody

]]> 091be274abba7067f196a3b424f7d16a Samuel West replied to the topic FEATURED: Scenic Spots in the forum Shoot to Serve Assignments https://www.lenspiration.com/forums/topic/details-scenic-spots/#post-96558 Wed, 16 Jul 2025 23:26:06 -0400 How should I submit my scenic spots for this assignment? Should I submit the locations into the scouting guide and then upload the photos here, or just list my locations here and attach the pictures? Do all the locations need to be submitted at the same time? Grateful for any assistance.

-Cody

]]> 369533a495fa3f958719993cfe96edeb Samuel West replied to the topic FEATURED: Glory of the Morning in the forum Shoot to Serve Assignments https://www.lenspiration.com/forums/topic/details-glory-morning/page/2/#post-95229 Thu, 17 Apr 2025 21:10:56 -0400 Here are the rest of my photos.

]]> 182277af6da8a00c8d1439489754bb02 Samuel West replied to the topic FEATURED: Glory of the Morning in the forum Shoot to Serve Assignments https://www.lenspiration.com/forums/topic/details-glory-morning/page/2/#post-95223 Thu, 17 Apr 2025 21:08:52 -0400 Here are my photos for this assignment. Me and my brothers went out early to birdwatch and I took the opportunity to take some pictures. It was an awesome morning with a beautiful sunrise and I really enjoyed the excuse to get out early and enjoy the morning and see what birds we could find. This was definitely a fun assignment to do!

]]> abe5dd6025f48134b41e7e0c809362dd Samuel West replied to the topic FEATURED: Portraits of Flowers in the forum Shoot to Serve Assignments https://www.lenspiration.com/forums/topic/details-flowers/page/3/#post-94489 Fri, 21 Mar 2025 18:06:40 -0400 Here are the rest of my submissions.

]]> f8911766384cb624a65e155114eec2b0 Samuel West replied to the topic FEATURED: Portraits of Flowers in the forum Shoot to Serve Assignments https://www.lenspiration.com/forums/topic/details-flowers/page/3/#post-94483 Fri, 21 Mar 2025 18:05:07 -0400 Here are my photos for this assignment. March is a great month for this assignment where we live. All the flowers are in bloom right now!

]]> 0b63fb2e251727ee7549ac9eefe9a5c0 Samuel West replied to the topic FEATURED: Portraits of Flowers in the forum Shoot to Serve Assignments https://www.lenspiration.com/forums/topic/details-flowers/page/2/#post-94320 Tue, 18 Mar 2025 00:06:22 -0400 Thanks for the compliment @loewfam! I really like your sixth submission; the flowers in it are so cool! And thanks for the information about the verses @lenspirationlydia. I thought of some verses for my pictures:
#1: 2 Corinthians 12:9- “My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness.”
#2: Isaiah 6:3- “Holy, holy,…Read more

]]> c34ac17c540e17934aaa856c7175da46 Samuel West replied to the topic FEATURED: Portraits of Flowers in the forum Shoot to Serve Assignments https://www.lenspiration.com/forums/topic/details-flowers/page/2/#post-94218 Fri, 14 Mar 2025 19:59:23 -0400 Here are the other three. The last one is from a field day in August 2023.
-Cody West

]]> 81a83e8520b1a1407bde25fe1e27f441 Samuel West replied to the topic FEATURED: Portraits of Flowers in the forum Shoot to Serve Assignments https://www.lenspiration.com/forums/topic/details-flowers/page/2/#post-94208 Fri, 14 Mar 2025 19:53:58 -0400 These are my first five submissions. I wanted to write some verses on them, but it is extremely tedious on our computer. I enjoyed going out and taking pictures of lots of different flowers at a nearby cemetery. March happens to be when all the flowers bloom in South Georgia, so there was plenty to find!
-Cody West

]]> eac726f6f33b7a5fe02f0a8e3f24dcdc Samuel West replied to the topic FEATURED: Scenic Seasonal Paths in the forum Shoot to Serve Assignments https://www.lenspiration.com/forums/topic/details-paths/page/2/#post-92598 Fri, 24 Jan 2025 21:03:19 -0500 These are my pictures for the assignment. I didn’t get a chance to take any pictures this month so I used these two from last summer.
-Cody

]]> 9e075e3effaf63e893a2df1baf2527e2 Samuel West replied to the topic FEATURED: Scenic Seasonal Paths in the forum Shoot to Serve Assignments https://www.lenspiration.com/forums/topic/details-paths/page/2/#post-92545 Thu, 23 Jan 2025 02:14:41 -0500 Here are the rest of my photos. Amazingly, we got some unexpected snow this past week and so I tried photographing that as well. I definitely didn’t expect to be able to shoot in the snow for this assignment! It hasn’t snowed where we live in south Georgia in 7 years.

]]> 288824c4b81881de5dd7021190d67841 Samuel West replied to the topic FEATURED: Scenic Seasonal Paths in the forum Shoot to Serve Assignments https://www.lenspiration.com/forums/topic/details-paths/page/2/#post-92539 Thu, 23 Jan 2025 02:08:58 -0500 Here are my photos for this assignment. I happened to take these pictures right before the assignment came out one foggy morning. So that was convenient! 🙂

]]> 2722fa98930159a062f4b614b2328701 Samuel West replied to the topic Advice on preventing sun flare in the forum Photography Q&A https://www.lenspiration.com/forums/topic/advice-on-preventing-sun-flare/#post-89639 Thu, 29 Aug 2024 23:17:38 -0400 Yes, James’ advice was very helpful. I really appreciated how many different ideas he gave about lens flare. I think I might look into lens hoods (I don’t have any currently). A lens hood probably would’ve worked in the scenario I showed above since I wasn’t shooting right at the sun. I never actually knew what lens hoods were used for…Read more

]]> f3e49439cb531ece3d560234d66d00a3 Samuel West started the topic Advice on preventing sun flare in the forum Photography Q&A https://www.lenspiration.com/forums/topic/advice-on-preventing-sun-flare/ Mon, 26 Aug 2024 20:16:07 -0400 I was wondering if anyone had any tips on how to help prevent sun flare in my photos. I have been having repeated issues with it in my pictures lately. I use the Photos program on Apple computers for editing, so I have trouble removing it in editing, especially when it shows up on an object with a lot of texture. The retouch tool in Photos will…Read more

]]> daae25b657f94b6d1bb87f959016cf7d Samuel West replied to the topic FEATURED: Church in the forum Shoot to Serve Assignments https://www.lenspiration.com/forums/topic/details-church/page/3/#post-89522 Sun, 25 Aug 2024 00:55:01 -0400 Here is the last one.
-Cody

]]> 6865522dcb7a36fb24e44e888db5c1fb Samuel West replied to the topic FEATURED: Church in the forum Shoot to Serve Assignments https://www.lenspiration.com/forums/topic/details-church/page/3/#post-89514 Sun, 25 Aug 2024 00:52:29 -0400 Here are my pictures for the assignment. I just did one photo shoot of an old historic church near where we live. I had some trouble with the sky blowing out in a few and sun flare problems in some others that I didn’t submit. I really enjoyed it though!
-Cody

]]> 886cdd9d3136a38895145217a56ee418 Samuel West replied to the topic FEATURED: Church in the forum Shoot to Serve Assignments https://www.lenspiration.com/forums/topic/details-church/page/2/#post-89435 Fri, 23 Aug 2024 18:04:16 -0400 Here are my photos for this assignment. I didn’t have a chance to shoot for this assignment, so I submitted some photos I took the previous year.

]]> 755538e533e6fbf972830f081f148fa9 Samuel West replied to the topic FEATURED: Picturesque Places in the forum Shoot to Serve Assignments https://www.lenspiration.com/forums/topic/details-places/page/2/#post-88268 Sat, 27 Jul 2024 17:18:51 -0400 I scouted out a couple of places and added a few places I had been to previously for this assignment. Here are a few photos from some of the locations.

]]> a376d69f5e6e43b05f0f1275c7935beb Samuel West replied to the topic FEATURED: Party Backgrounds in the forum Shoot to Serve Assignments https://www.lenspiration.com/forums/topic/details-party/#post-86385 Sat, 20 Apr 2024 22:35:45 -0400 Here are the last two.
-Cody West

]]> 642f56243663160056e1fbc014318095 Samuel West replied to the topic FEATURED: Party Backgrounds in the forum Shoot to Serve Assignments https://www.lenspiration.com/forums/topic/details-party/#post-86379 Sat, 20 Apr 2024 22:32:44 -0400 These are my first five photos for this assignment. It was more fun and simpler than I had anticipated. I just played around with alternate placements of the balloons and confetti for the different shots. Thankfully my ISO was at 100 this time.🙂
-Cody West

]]> 85fc59ac711db85b360f13fbc709ebb8 Samuel West replied to the topic FEATURED: Prayer in the forum Shoot to Serve Assignments https://www.lenspiration.com/forums/topic/details-prayer/page/2/#post-85989 Sat, 23 Mar 2024 23:33:02 -0400 Here is my picture for the assignment. I took a bunch more that were self-portraits of prayer but I made a really embarrassing mistake. I forgot to check my ISO before I started taking pictures, since I usually keep it at 100. However, I had recently set it at 1000 and so I shot all my pictures at 1000. All of my pictures had a ton of grain in…Read more

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